Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great (849-26 October 899) was the king of Wessex from 23 April 871 to 26 October 899, succeeding Aethelred of Wessex and preceding Edward the Elder. Previously the Earl of Somerset under his brother Aethelred, he fought alongside his brother against the Great Heathen Army of Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes that landed in 865. Upon his brother's death at the Battle of Basing in 871, he succeeded him and led resistance against the Danes. His victory at the Battle of Edington in 878 was a game-changer, and after several military reforms, Alfred improved Wessex's military strength to fight the pagans.

Biography
Alfred was the youngest son of Ethelwulf, king of Wessex. In 865, when Alfred was a youth, Wessex and the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England - Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia - were threatened by invasion when a Danish Viking "Great Army" landed on the east coast. The Danes first conquered Northumbria and East Anglia and then turned to attack Mercia. Alfred first saw action with Wessex forces sent to aid the Mercians. In 870, Wessex itself was invaded. By that time Alfred's elder brother, Ethelred, was king. Ethelred and Alfred fought a series of battles against the Danes with varying success. They are credited with a victory at Ashingdon in Berkshire in 871, but Ethelred was routed at Basing soon after and was killed at Merton the following April. Alfred succeeded to the throne.

Under Attack
In the first years of Alfred's reign, the Danes tried to consolidate their other conquests, but in 876 they renewed their assault. Alfred had major weaknesses that made defending his realm difficult. He could not match Danish sea power, so the south coast was open to attack by their longships. On land his army, the fyrd, was a part-time force assembled by regional lords at the king's command. This meant the Danish army could advance deep into Wessex before Alfred's forces could gather. Even so, in 876, a Danish invasion was resisted. The Danes seized Wareham and Exeter, but each time were evicted after Alfred arrived and besieged them. Meanwhile, their navy was scattered by a storm. The respite proved brief, however. Striking in the dead of winter, in January 878, the Danish King Guthrum surprised Alfred at his royal camp at Chippenham. With only his personal followers to defend him, Alfred was lucky to escape with his life. He sought refuge in the wild Sedgemoor marshes, where he soon established the fort of Athelney as a center for guerrilla warfare.

Perhaps surprisingly, Alfred's royal authority remained intact. In the spring, at his summons, three shires supplied soldiers for a fyrd. He led this army to confront the Danes on Salisbury Plain. In the battle of Edington, Alfred appears to have outmaneuvered his enemy, allowing his soldiers to rush down upon them from a hill and drive them from the field. Guthrum retreated with the remnants of his forces to Chippenham, where he was besieged by Alfred and starved into surrender.

Military Reforms
Although this victory did not end fighting with the Danes, Wessex was never again badly threatened during Alfred's reign. This was largely because of the king's military reforms. Alfred reorganized the fyrd, so that a part of the army was always assembled. He strengthened his navy with longships longer than any the Danes possessed and manned them with his mercenaries. He built up to 30 fortified towns, or burghs, as strongholds to block an invader's path. Alfred's son, Edward the Elder, inherited a militarily and culturall revitalized kingdom.